Stake Out Your Corner

Hi Everyone,
I have gotten a couple of requests lately where people are telling me their professional plans or making a decision to alter course in some manner. They want my opinion on what to do.

Like I always say I can't give any individual advice on what to do. But what I can do is share with you the considerations I use when making a decision like that:

1. I remind myself that change (in and of itself ) is a scary thing and I try to keep the "Change fear" separate from the the real concerns that must be taken into consideration when embarking on a new course of action.

2. I ask people who know me - my personality and emotions - about how they think I will like the thing I am about to do; how I will tolerate the risks inherent in it and whether or not they think I will get bored because those are MY big issues. You have to figure out yours. NOTE HOWEVER: I am very careful who I ask. People often give advice based on their own needs, perspectives and jealousies. I keep that in my while digesting their advice.

That, by the way, is why I can't give anyone career or path altering advice here. I don't know who you are, what you need, your capabilites and quirks.

3. This one I have only learned to deal with well recently. mom had been telling me about it for years but I am just now able to implement the mindset: Rarely in life are things black and white. Some are: Should I start smoking crack or no. There is nothing to consider there. But whether I should be a lawyer or a teacher, doctor or a businessman, a desk clerk or a construction worker. Those are gray. This is mom's take on that kind of thing. "most of the time there is not RIGHT CHOICE. What you are in fact doing is picking a. the satisfactions you want to have and b. the set of problems you want to solve. You can work just about anything.

4. Of course doing the former requires you to have all of the information about what you are trying to do. Don't just ask people who think they know. Ask people in it. Read. Read. Then read some more. You wouldn't believe what they put in books!!


5. Last but by no means least Stake Out Your Corner. Once ou make your move don't pussy foot around. If you are going to roll. . . roll. (woulda shoulda coulda is a waste of emotional capital)

6. Don't get metaphysical in an attempt to ease your own conciense and not try hard (I know I spelled that wrong-too lazy to get the dictionary and I embrace my inability to spell). One guy asked me once, that considering how corrupt the system is, should he go into the law and become part of a corrupt system.

My answer; "Shall we all take a vacation. Sit back and watch the world go to hell in a hand bascket? Or should good people get in the fight and try to improve things?" In other words are you going to sit around sounding superior and be lazy or are you going to be a man? (I didn't say this last part because there is no need to insult people but that was exactly what I was thinking.)

-Having said that I would like to say this, I disagree with his assessment of the nature our legal system - it is flawed , no doubt, but it has, within it, the capacity to improve because of the checks and balances built into it as well as it's public nature. Injustice thrives in the dark but struggles to grow in the light of day. And it's not so much the system that is wrong but the people who do wrong things in it - I know its not perfect - nothing created by man is but you should see what goes on in pother countries - "so here's the thing," I told that young man, "you can be part of the improvement process or you can sit back and do nothing."

I couldn't change the sytem while I was in it but I staked out my corner. I did the best I could by everybody I saw. I created programs to adress the underlying problems I saw that kept people coming back. My successes were few, but I had SOME. The whole point is that no matter what you choose to do you should leave it better than you found it.

And there you have. Usually I only share a 10 cent opinion. This one, however, I think is worth a buck twenty-five.

Peace